Completely Lost
When you are lost, it's important to know exactly how "lost" you are. Are you just a little bit lost, like you just need a minor course correction to get on track? Are you very lost, like you are on the wrong road entirely? Or are you very VERY lost, so lost that you need rescue? Are you lost enough that you can't possibly fix the situation on your own and need someone to save you? It's an important question because the level of your lostness will determine the nature of your response!
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way
of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
- Romans 3:9-20